Expedition 25 Landing Rescheduled

The landing of Expedition 25 is now planned for Nov. 25 at 11:46 p.m. EST (Nov. 26 at 10:46 a.m. Kazakhstan time). Due to Kazakhstan airspace considerations Russian mission managers opted to move the landing up from its original date on Nov. 30.

Commander Doug Wheelock and Flight Engineers Shannon Walker and Fyodor Yurchikhin will return home aboard their Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft. When the departing trio undocks Expedition 26 will officially begin. New Commander Scott Kelly, who will assume command in a ceremony Nov. 24, and Flight Engineers Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka will continue their stay aboard the International Space Station.

Joining Expedition 26 in December are Flight Engineers Catherine Coleman, Paolo Nespoli and Dmitri Kondratyev. They will launch from Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz TMA-20 on Dec. 13.

Monday’s spacewalkers Yurchikhin and Skripochka continue cleaning up their Orlan spacesuits, organizing tools and reconfiguring the Pirs docking compartment’s airlock. The spacewalk to outfit the Russian segment of the station for future assembly work and experiments lasted six hours and 27 minutes.

Wheelock and Kelly worked on removing an adsorbent bed inside the Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA). Part of the environmental control and life support system, the CDRA removes carbon dioxide and trace contaminants from the station’s atmosphere allowing crew members to breathe safely. Kelly and Walker are scheduled to continue that work Thursday. A replacement bed is due to arrive on the space shuttle Discovery during STS-133.

Walker set up the VO2max experiment in advance of Thursday’s run with Wheelock. VO2max measures oxygen uptake in a crew member before, during and after a long-duration spaceflight. The measurements are useful as scientists determine the effects of strenuous activities in microgravity such as spacewalks and exercise.

Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri worked in the orbiting laboratory’s Russian segment. Kaleri continued with a variety of maintenance and science experiments. One experiment observes a crew member’s reaction time and perception performing manual spacecraft control tasks.